Lay Down the Stars
by inkheart9459
Summary: Countess Catherine Grant is a sharp political mind advising Princess Kara through the ups and downs of finding a good political match for marriage. She feels for Kara, who only wants to marry for love, or at the very least friendship, but Kryptonian law states that a Princess must marry before taking the crown. Cat, however, has taught Kara that there are loopholes everywhere.


Howdy, so this was for the secret santa femslash exchange over on AO3 and I'm just posting it here. I got saywhat and their prompt was medieval AU, which let me fucking tell y'all I was over the moon about considering I seem to do one in every fandom I'm in because they're great. I really hope you like it :D

* * *

Cat hadn't planned on all this at the start of her life. Her mother had been the social climber, not her. Her passion had always been truth and change for the fact that only nobility or royalty sat on the council that made the changes hadn't deterred her, but she had been young then.

When her mother had married her off to an Earl who had just inherited his title from his degenerate of a father she had been incensed for a while. Until she had figured out that William had no head for politics and would do whatever she instructed so long as she kept the household well appointed and the money flowing in.

All had gone well for a while. For all intents and purposes she appeared as the lady of the house, obedient and quiet, there only to bear children and keep the staff in line. They had one son, Carter, and then immediately had nothing more to do with each other in the Biblical sense and that was that.

Until William had gotten himself killed in a horse riding accident six months prior, but she supposed she should thank him for that, really. Cat smiled to herself as she waited for the princess to come back to her chambers after her latest meeting with the representatives of yet another nation. The girl was doing well with the small negotiations her parents were assigning her, but then again with all the lessons she had given Kara, she should be running circles around anyone else.

Kara opened the door to her chambers quietly and shut it behind her calmly before walking over to the couch Cat was sat on and snatching up a pillow. She brought it up to her face and screamed into it for a long minute before pulling back and setting it down. Kara sank beside Cat the next second.

"So I see that the meeting went well," Cat observed dryly.

"Rude and condescending men who think they know it all." Kara looked at Cat. "Yes, it went well." She groaned. "But in all seriousness it did go well. We got everything we wanted without giving up half of what we discussed as a possibility."

Cat nodded. "Good." And that was a long way from the girl she had started to mentor five months ago at the behest of Queen Alura. It seemed impressing the Queen had its perks. And all she had to do was pretend that she was continuing her own crusade as part of her husband's legacy. One meeting in and the Queen had picked out that Cat had been the mastermind behind her husband all along and had offered her this position. "And how was the Prince himself?"

"I think he was the worst of all because he was trying to impress me." She rubbed her hands over her face. "I know mother is strongly considering Daxam in the search for my suitor, but is there any way you could persuade her to look elsewhere?"

"Is there anywhere you would prefer?"

"Not really, no, Starhaven and Circadia aren't terrible, but I just." She sighed heavily. "I know it's too late and I know I have a duty to my kingdom to marry so I can rule, but I want to marry for something other than political alliance. Even friendship would be better than this farce."

Cat reached out and patted Kara's leg through her many skirts. "I remember that wish. For a good many of us it goes unanswered. That is how it is in this day and age. To be a woman in power you must have a man at your side or you must do so from the shadows. A Queen does not have the luxury of the shadows." But she did, what better way to continue her mission than to have the ear of a Princess? Even if she was still naive, Cat had a way of reaching her that no one else had in a long string of tutors that the Queen had hired. Perhaps it was because she was a woman herself teaching Kara just what it meant to be a sheep pulling the strings of wolves.

"Who even wrote the law about a Queen needing to marry to rule?" Kara shot up off the couch and started to pace.

Cat just raised an eyebrow at Kara.

"Right, men, I know, but." She groaned loudly.

"Change it when you are Queen or find a way around it. Those are your two options. Talking to me will not fix this."

Kara threw up her hands. "Can you not understand that it makes me feel at least a bit better?"

"I can, but anger, if used correctly can be your best weapon. Used incorrectly it can be your greatest downfall. Men are prone to the latter. Women cannot be. We would fall farther and faster than they ever would. You have to remember that, your highness." Cat stood and made her way over to the windows that overlooked the garden. She smoothed her hands down the front of her dress and waited for Kara to come stand beside her. She winced as the boning in her corset dug into her ribs on a particularly deep breath. Damned things would be on her list to outlaw if she didn't have more important things to worry about.

Eventually Kara found her place at Cat's side after calming a bit. "So just how exactly would you recommend finding a way around it?"

Cat glanced at Kara out of the side of her eye. "What would you do first?"

Kara thought for a long moment, chewing on her lip in that exact way that Cat had told her not to time and time again. "Look at the exact wording of the law to find out if there are potential loopholes."

Cat smiled. "Then what are you waiting for, Princess?"

* * *

Cat was alone in her rooms after making sure Carter had fallen asleep a few nights later when Kara came to her once more. "I found something," Kara said, hopping up and down on her toes, more antsy than excited.

Cat gestured for the woman to come in and led her to the few couches and chairs strewn in front of the roaring fireplace. Their kingdom never got truly cold, not like Opal Kingdom, but it left the Kryptonians without any real resistance to the cold and so even cooler temperatures sent a chill through their bones. Cat sat in the closest chair to the fire, curling her legs under her and sighing at the feel of heat. Walking on the palace flagstones always sucked the heat right out of her.

"And what exactly did you find?" Cat asked once they both were settled.

Kara produced a few pieces of parchment all covered in her elegant scrawl and then what looked to be a copy of an official document from the palace scribes. She laid everything out on the little table in front of the couch she was sitting on.

"It's not much of a loophole, admittedly," Kara said, frowning, "but it is something." She grabbed the official document and held it out to Cat.

Cat took it and read it over quickly. It looked to be a collection of all the laws related to succession for a royal, right at the top was the marriage law that Kara was trying to flout. From her rapid glance over everything it didn't look like there was much room for interpretation, but then again, Kara had said as much.

She set down the paper and turned to Kara. "So, what is it? I don't see much here." Amazing how men could write laws well when they had to do with limiting women. Cat almost snorted at that thought.

"Reread the language of the original law," Kara said.

Cat obliged her, reading outloud. "A Princess, in order to continue her birthright and become ruler of the kingdom must be married before she is crowned Queen. If the Princess was widowed before she inherited the crown, a proper mourning time may be observed in which time she may be coronated if necessary for the kingdom, but once that passes she must find a suitable match and marry again to keep the crown." She set it down once more and looked at Kara, waiting.

"It says married, it doesn't say to a man and it said nothing of separation, just that a marriage must happen." Kara shuffled around her notes. "I cross checked every other law about inheritance just to make sure there was nothing that contradicted that, but there isn't."

"So what do you plan to do with that, Princess? It sounds a bit like you are stuck in the same place you started out in. Kryptonian society would practically exile you if you separated from your spouse and you know it."

Kara looked at Cat and nodded. "It might, but it might not if I did it for the good of the kingdom."

Cat just waited for her to continue on and elaborate on that thought.

"If I married a woman there would be no heir to the kingdom, or at least not from my bloodline. However, if I seperated from her to marry a man so I could produce an heir...it would not be looked on favorably, by any means, but no one could call foul and call me an unfit ruler." Kara pulled at her fingers, not looking at Cat.

Cat considered everything for a long moment, thought about all the angles, the political players that Kara was up against. It wasn't a badly thought out plan, really, provided that no one else knew that it was all in an effort to buy time for Kara to find someone she could actually tolerate. Kryptonians, especially the nobility were more used to arranged marriages, but marrying for love wasn't extremely out of the norm. Kara's uncle and aunt were one such example. The kingdom had been practically driven to distraction fawning over them and just how wonderfully in love they were. If Kara framed it as something similar...perhaps it would work.

"And just who were you thinking of asking to play along with this with you? Have you thought about the consequences for them?"

Kara nodded and shifted in her seat for a few moments. "I have. I think it would be better to ask someone who plans not to marry or has already done so and is widowed that way afterwards the stigma of separation wouldn't affect them as much." She looked up at Cat. "I thought about asking one of my ladies in waiting, they're of the right station for a marriage to me, and many of them would shore up political alliances within the kingdom that are needed to keep everything running smoothly."

"But?" Cat asked, vocalizing the implied hesitation at the end of Kara's words.

"But I know for a fact that all of them want to get married one day, some of them even have betrothals lined up and are just waiting for their intended to be ready for their match. Some of them aren't extremely happy about that, but they are content I suppose."

Cat nodded. "They feel no need to upset the status quo and feel that if they find the right man who's the best match for their family everything will work out in the end."

"Yes, something like that." She looked away from Cat again and Cat wondered just what in the world had the woman fidgeting so.

"There is nothing wrong with wanting to change the status quo, Kara. That's the only way that things truly get done." Maybe that is what had her so edgy, though Cat doubted it. She had never been this way before when talking of her wishes to forgo a marriage for political reasons.

"I know."

"Then why haven't you looked at me for longer than thirty seconds the entire time you have been here?" Cat never got anything she wanted by beating around the bush.

Kara stood and fiddled with her dress, arranging the skirts carefully before fiddling with the intricate lace on the bodice. "The only one I could think of after my ladies in waiting was you, Cat. You're widowed, you have a son, you have no wish to marry again as far as I am aware, and you are titled. The business you inherited on your father's death is one of the most important shipping companies that Krypton has and it has political ties and contacts that the kingdom needs. It wouldn't be a bad match. Were you a man no one would bat an eye, not truly."

Well, Kara was right about that most likely, no one would look a second time at a match between them if she was a man. But they would if she accepted because she was a woman. Did she want that? She didn't care for herself, not really, but if she was pulled from power she would never accomplish her goals and it wasn't like anyone else in the upper nobility was trying to help the commoners, not really. Rao help her that didn't even take into account what her fall from grace would do to Carter.

But. Carter. She thought about it for a moment. She never wanted to use her little boy for anything, anything at all, but he could legitimize the match somewhat if Kara adopted him as her own, a built in heir of sorts.

And Kara. She looked at the woman. It had been five months, and the beginning had not be easy, but she did care for Kara. She truly did. Cat wanted her to be happy and if she was the means to that end she wouldn't mind.

Cat stood from her chair, shivering as her feet met flagstones, still cool even though they were warmer by the fire. "And have you thought about how to sell the match to your mother?" Kara's father would go along with anything that made her happy, he wasn't politically minded at all, no that was all Alura.

"I have."

She stepped closer to Kara and took her hand. "And?"

"I think it would be best to tell her the truth, but also...she understands love. She loves my father dearly."

Yes, the woman did. They had been one of the few arranged matches that had worked out for the better.

"It's one or the other, Kara, either we tell her the truth or we tell her we're in love." She looked up into blue eyes that were a little lost, but still sure underneath it all.

"Maybe, perhaps, it's better if we go for love. I don't think she would forbid us from doing this if we told her that." Kara squeezed her hand. "Does that mean you'll agree to this?"

Cat thought for another few seconds more just to be sure. "Yes, I will."

Kara smiled brightly and pulled Cat into a hug. "Thank you. Thank you."

Cat hugged the woman back, feeling fine silk under her fingers and the ends of hair that felt even softer. Perhaps playing like she was in love with Kara wouldn't be so hard. Her heart fluttered in a way it hadn't before and Cat wondered just how much of this would be truth by the end of the ruse. Maybe too much for her heart to handle.

Kara pulled back. "I'll tell mother that I've made my decision and we can meet with her in the morning."

But if her heart _was_ Kara, maybe she could handle it. Because Kara happy was as radiant as any sun and just as warming and she could live off of that heat if need be.

"Good. Just send a messenger with the time and I'll be there."

Kara smiled brighter and made for the door. "Thank you, Cat, truly. It means the world to me."

"You're welcome Kara." Anyone who wouldn't lay down the stars so Kara could reach the moon was a heartless being, and Cat was far from heartless.

Kara reached the door and pulled it open. "Goodnight, Cat."

"Goodnight, Kara."

Kara's eyes softened at the use of her name for a long second, before she finally walked out into the torch lit hall.

The door shut behind her and Cat sank down in her chair again. No, this was not where she pictured herself at all five months ago. But maybe it was better this way.

She smiled to herself and got up once more and headed towards her bedroom. Tomorrow would be busy and she would need all the sleep she could get.

Epilogue

Cat stared out over the kingdom with a smile. She saw the royal guard training in the distance in the first light of morning and the commoners starting out into their fields for the day. She enjoyed the quietness of this time of day before court started and people clamored for attention. She didn't miss much from the first few years of her marriage but there had been more down time and sometimes she did miss that. But not much. She had gained so much in exchange.

"Morning," Kara said, walking out onto the balcony, still rumpled from sleep.

"Good morning, darling." Cat turned into the kiss Kara laid on her cheek. She slipped an arm around the younger woman's waist. "What got you up so early? Usually it takes the sun to rouse you and then some."

Kara laughed. "No reason, just happy, well rested."

Cat smirked. "I suppose you would be after last night."

Kara blushed the same color as the lightening sky. "Yes, well."

They fell quiet and watched their kingdom wake up curled up together against the morning chill.

"It's been six years officially today," Kara said quietly.

Cat hummed. "Yes, why did you think we celebrated last night?"

"That wasn't a celebration, that was just you being your normal insatiable self," Kara teased. "It doesn't count as a celebration of today if it's not even today yet."

"I suppose not. Oh well, we'll just have to do it again then won't we?" She turned to Kara and smiled.

"I suppose we will." She grabbed Cat's hand and squeezed. "What made you say yes that day? It was a crazy proposition. No one else would have agreed to marry me like that."

"Because it was just a crazy enough idea to work." She paused for a moment. "And because I cared for you even then, though I was only figuring out how much at the time."

"And people say you're heartless and cold." She turned and kissed Cat gently. "They don't know you."

"And they never really will, dear heart. That title goes only to you and Carter." Cat nuzzled Kara's nose.

"Did he make it to training this morning?" Kara asked.

Cat laughed. "He did. He was up this morning before I was for once. Ulric won't be hunting him down."

"Definitely not a morning person like his mother."

"No, no he isn't. His partner will have to be the one dragging him out of bed to court." Cat smiled. At sixteen Carter was truly starting to be a young man ready to stand on his own. He was smart and she believed he would rule the kingdom wisely when his turn came.

"That will be amusing to watch." Kara shook her head fondly.

"Yes it will. But you still have many more years in you so don't get thoughts of retirement just yet." She nudged Kara lightly with her hip.

"No, not when it seems like I was just crowned yesterday." Kara shivered and goosebumps raised on her skin.

"Six months ago isn't yesterday, but I understand the feeling. Time has flown since that day, but I believe in a good way."

Kara nodded and looked out again over the land. "Yes. I think so too." She shivered again.

"Come on you're freezing. It's time for us to get ready anyway." Cat pulled Kara towards their rooms.

"Well, I think we have a little time to kill if you wanted to celebrate early." Kara strode past Cat, shooting heated look over her shoulder.

Cat licked her lips. "If my Queen bids it."

"Oh she most definitely does." She untied her robe and dropped it to the ground.

Cat just smiled and walked towards her wife.


End file.
